Page 1222 - Top MMA News and Mixed Martial Arts Headlines

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Despite a lack of star power, February was a solid month for mixed martial arts. The Nate Marquardt-Wilson Gouveia and Nick Thompson-Paul Daley fights -- Sherdog.com’s top-ranked bouts for the month -- delivered the goods as far as all-out action between evenly matched opponents was concerned.
The signs for March are similar. Most of the sport’s top pound-for-pound talent will not return until summer, so guys like Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Aleksander Emelianenko will get their chance to shine. With tough opponents like Keith Jardine and Ibragim Magomedov in their way, fans are guaranteed competitive matchups.

A middleweight tilt between American Top Team fighter Alessio Sakara and Roufusport fighter Alan Belcher appears set to take place at UFC 99 in Germany.
Sources close to both camps said the fighters have agreed to the June 13 fight. Bout agreements should be signed shortly.

“Kirill Sidelnikov, who last competed at Affliction’s Day of Reckoning event on January 24, has been suspended for testing positive for Stanozolol. The suspension period is retroactive to the conclusion of the bout on January 24 and runs through January 18, 2010. He has been fined $2,500. The mere presence of Stanozolol in the system constitutes a violation under the new testing procedures for CSAC.”

Just one week after losing to Junior dos Santos at UFC 95, Dutch heavyweight Stefan Struve (16-3) is wasting no time in looking for his first win in the UFC.
According to a report from British MMA Magazine Fighters Only, Struve and British welterweight Paul Taylor (9-4-1) have both been offered fights for UFC 99, however their opponents are currently unknown and bout agreements have yet to be signed.

With the addition of Kim Jong Man (3-5-2), World Victory Road has set the field for its 16-man featherweight grand prix, which commences March 20 at the organization's Sengoku Seventh Battle event.
Man, a K-1 and DEEP veteran who's 0-3-2 in his past five fights, took the last spot in the tournament, which features the likes of L.C. Davis, Nam Phan, Michihiro Omigawa and others.
Sengoku Seventh Battle takes place at the National Yoyogi Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, and airs live in North America on HDNet.

Whether Keith Jardine is first, second, or third in the light heavyweight hierarchy, the important thing is that he’s there in the first place.
“I’m probably like the third person asked to the prom on this one, I think,” he said of his UFC 96 fight with Quinton “Rampage” Jackson during a media teleconference. “But I got a call and couldn’t turn it down.”
The announcement that he’d face the former UFC light heavyweight champion was dropped on fans during the telecast for UFC 93, scrapping earlier reports he would face Brazilian prospect Luis Cane at UFC 97.

The long-rumored PPV debut of WEC appears to be getting closer. Although some contractual hurdles must first be cleared, it seems like it'll happen in June in Sacramento, CA, and be headlined by the rematch of WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown vs. Urijah Faber for the title, assuming WEC can re-sign soon-to-be-free-agent Faber, which is expected soon.

Wanderlei Silva may have dropped down to middleweight, but he still sees at least one more light-heavyweight match in his future.
The Brazilian veteran says that, while he is not yet considering retirement, he has already decided that he would like the last match of his career to be against long-term rival Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.

Las Vegas, NV (USA) – Long considered the most prestigious title in mixed martial arts, the UFC Heavyweight Championship currently rests in the hands of two men – Champion Brock Lesnar and interim belt holder Frank Mir. On Saturday, May 23rd, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, Lesnar and Mir will meet to not only determine an Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion, but to settle some very personal business they began in this same city over a year ago.

Sources close to Bloody Elbow can exclusively confirm that the heretofore unnamed opponent of former WWE superstar Bobby Lashley set to square off at Roy Jones Jr.'s mixed boxing and MMA event known as "March Badness" is none other than Ken Shamrock.

Bob Schreiber, Stefan Struve’s trainer, recently wrote of Stefan’s performance at UFC 95 on his blog.
The way the UFC works is that you get a contract which states you HAVE TO win your first 2 fights or you're out.
IF you lose the first one, you get a do over, IF you have shown them something, which Stefan didn't do.
The last option is that the UFC puts his contract on hold, and then he has to fight AND win 2 fights outside the UFC and when you do the UFC resumes your contract.

Weigh-ins for this weekend's "UFC 96: Jackson vs. Jardine" event take place Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. EST at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
The same venue hosts Saturday's pay-per-view event, which includes a main event between former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson and Keith Jardine.
The first fighter hits the scale at 4 p.m. Friday. As always the event is free and open to the public. MMAjunkie.com will report live from the weigh-ins and will have complete UFC 96 coverage throughout the weekend.
Prior to the weigh-ins, the UFC will host a question-and-answer session with UFC interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir for UFC Fight Club members. The members-only session begins at 2 p.m.

Akitoshi “Ironman” Tamura (12-7-2) and previously unbeaten number one contender Manny “The Mangler” Tapia (10-1-1) — the main event and co-main event losers from WEC 37 back in December 2008 — have been targeted by the promotion to square off with each other in a 135-pound affair at WEC 40 from the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Ill., on April 5.
“Ironman” was handed the first submission loss of his career by one of the division’s top contenders, Wagnney Fabiano, while Tapia fell to bantamweight champion Miguel Torres in the main event courtesy of a second round technical knockout

One of the more promising fights on the UFC 96: “Jackson vs. Jardine” card is a lightweight scrap between Gray Maynard (6-0, with 1 no contest) and Jim Miller (13-1).
Maynard is now perfect (4-0) in the UFC and was last seen at UFC 90, outpointing Rich Clementi on all three judge’s scorecards. The three-time Division I All-American wrestler (he wrestled on the same team as UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans) is also the only blemish on Frankie Edgar’s otherwise perfect record (9-1).

” … I’m just trying to figure out what we’re doing, that’s all. I’m kind of between a rock and a hard place. The fans and the media treat me like I’m on my tenth show. I’m on my third show, and I’m just trying to make sure I don’t make the same mistakes that I made in the other events. If there’s things I’ve made mistakes on I try to fix them. I’m trying to be methodical about everything. I’m just trying to make sure that whatever we do, we’re doing it right.

The bonuses for the event were confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by WEC officials following the bouts, with Knockout of the Night, Submission of the Night and Fight of the Night getting rewarded.
The Submission of the Night seemed like a no brainer as WEC champion, Mike Brown, won his title defense by way of head and arm choke and will now also take home a $7500 bonus as well.
Following a brutal :18 second knockout, Damacio Page took home the KO of the Night bonus for his performance defeating top ten bantamweight, Marcus Galvao, who had to leave the cage on a stretcher after the fight.
The Fight of the Night bonus landed in the hands of the last two 170lb fighters expected to compete in the WEC as the promotion has now done away with the division, with Johny Hendricks and Alex Serdyukov, each earning the extra payday.